The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-12-29
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
King David's Thirst During Bat
tie With the Piilistines.
The Refreshing Drau lit From the Well
of Bethlehem Compared With the
Perpetual Joy Drawn From
the Well of the Gospel.

The subject of recent sermon by Rev.
T. De Witt Talmage at the Brooklyn Tab
ernacle was "Thirst in q Cavern" pre-
dictated on the following text:
Oh, that one would give me drink of the water
of the well Of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.
III. Samuel xiii, Is
War, always distressing, is especially
ruinous in harvest time. When the crops
are all ready for the sickle. to have them
trodden down by cavalry horses and
heavy supply-trains outlying the fields,
is enough to make any mans heart sick.
When the last great war broke out in Eu-
rope, and France and Germany were COM
ing into horrid collision, 1 rode across
their golden harvests and saw their tents
pitched, and the trenches dug in the very
midst of the ripe fislds, the long scy the of
battle sharpening to NOV down harvests
of mon in great winrows of the dead. 1t
was at this season of harvest that the
army of the Philistines came down upon
Bethlehem. Hark to the clamor of their
voices, the neighing of their chargers, the
blare Of their trumpets, and the clash of
their shields! ~
Let David and his mon fall back! The
Lords host sometimes loses the day. But
David knew where to hide. He had been
brought up in that country. Boys are in
quisitive, and they know all about the
region where they were born and brought
up If you should go hack to the old home
stead, you could, with your eyes shut, find
your way to the meadow, or the orchard,
or the hill back of the !~use, with which
you were familiar thirty or forty years
ago. So David knew the cave at Adullam.
Perhaps, in his boyhood days, he had
played ''hide.and-seek" with his comrades
all about the old cave, and though others
might not have known it, David did.
Travellers say there is only one way of
getting into that cave, and that is by a
very narrow path; but David was stout,
and steady-headed, and steady-nerved,
and so, with his three brave staff-ofIicers,
he goes along that path, finds his way
into the cave, sits down, looks around at
the roof and the dark passages of the
mountain, feels very weary with the
forced march; and water he must have or
die.
drops trucking down the side of the cav
ern, or that there may have been some
water in the goat skin slung to his girdle,
but that was not what he wanted. He
wanted a deep, full, cold drink, such as a
man gets only out of an old we'll with
moss-covered bucket. David remembered
that very near that cave of Adullam there
was such we'll as that, we'll to which
he used to go in boyhood-the we'll of
Bethlehem; and he almost imagines that
he can hear the liquid plash of that well,
and his parched tongue moves through his
hot lips as he says:
Oh! that one would give me drink of the wa
ter of the well Of Bethlehem, which is by the
gate.
1t was no sooner said than DONE The
three brave staff officers bound to their
feet and start. Brave soldiers will take
even a hint from their commander.
But between them and the we'll
lay the host of the Philistines; and what
could three men do with a great army?
Yet where there is a will there is a
way, and with their swords slashing this
way and that, they make their path to
the well. While the Philistines are
amazed at the seeming fooihardiness of
these three men, and can not make up
their minds exactly what it means, the
three men have come to the well. They
drop the bucket. They bring up the
water. They pour it in the pail. and then
start for the cave. "Stop them ~ cry the
Philistines. "Clip them with your
swords. Stab them with your spears.
Stop those three men!" Too late. They
have got around the hill. The hot rocks
are spl dashed with the OVERLOOKING water
from the vessel as it is carried up the
cliffs. The three men go along the dan
gerous path, and with cheeks flushed
with the excitement, and all out of breath
in their haste, to the side of the cave, and
cry out to David: ''There, captain of the
host, is what you wanted, drink of the
we'll of Bethlehem, which is by the gate"
A text is Of no use to me unless / can
find Christ in it; and unless can bring a
gospel out of these words, that will
arouse and comfort and bless, / shall wish
l had never seen them; for your time
would be wasted, and against my soul the
dark record would be made that this day
/ stood before great audience Of SHINING,
suffering and dying men, and told them
of no rescue. By the cross of the Son of
God, by the throne of the eternal iudp.
ment, that shall not bel May the Lord
Jesus help me TO tell you the truth to.
day!
My friends, we come to-day around the
Gospel WELL We put down our pack of
burdens, and our implements of toll. One
man must draw the waters for those who
have gathered around the WELL 1 will
try and draw the water to-day; and if,
after have poured out from this living
fountain for your soul, just taste of it
myself, you will not begrud sc me
drink from the water Of the well of Betble.
hem, which is by the gate.
The Gospel well, like the we'll spoken of
in the text, is a we'll of Bethlehem. David
had known hundreds of wells of water.
but he wanted to drink from that particu-
lar one, and he thought nothing could
Stake his thirst like that. And unless your
soul and mine can get access to the foun
tain open for sin and uncleanness,
we must die. That fountain is the
we'll of Bethlehem. 1t was dug
in one night. 1t was dug by the light of
lantern--the star that hung down
over the manger. 1t was dug
not at the gate of Caesars
palaces, not in the park of Jerus alem
bargain maker. 1t was dug in barn.
The camels lifted their weary heads to
listen as the work went on. The shep.
herds, unable to sleep, because the heav.
ems were filled with bands of music, came
down to see the opening of the we'll, The